What does it mean to be grateful for your suffering?

I received the following message from Andrey, a follower on social media:

“There is a certain formula: We will never receive what we want until we are grateful for what we have. How do we give thanks for troubles, pain and suffering? This is what I have now.”

We need to understand that the suffering we experience in life enters our “piggy bank” of sorts, and even if we cannot be grateful for it, life’s pains, troubles and tribulations possess a positive function.

Determining suffering, however, depends on the person. That is, it depends on us whether or not we suffer. We could say that life is a chain of suffering that some people feel more and others feel less.

We can view humanity’s history as a long chain of suffering, and what Andrey points at in his question is: What do we get out of all the suffering we go through? What if we do not get anything? Would we have suffered in vain?

Many people think that they have to get something for their suffering, that their present suffering will bring them a happy life in some afterlife and that suffering somehow purifies them. Personally, I try not to make such calculations so that I have no complaints and demands to the upper force regarding what I will get for my suffering, as if I think about how much the Creator owes me. There is no such phenomenon.

Justifying the suffering we go through is, however, correct. However, the fact is that all parts of nature suffer, i.e., on the inanimate, vegetative, animate and human levels, and we on the human level suffer more than nature’s other levels. Everyone suffers and the pleasures we experience just cover up a little bit of our previous suffering.

According to our nature, we have no desire to suffer but it is embedded in our development to our future, final and perfect state. If we live with the fact that we need to experience suffering, it makes our lives easier. But what is important to understand about suffering is that it makes us question its meaning and purpose. We can then use such questions to elevate us from the level of our earthly existence, where its meaning is hidden, to a higher level of existence, where the reason for suffering is revealed.

I dedicate my life to teaching and spreading the wisdom of Kabbalah because it grants us the opportunity to discover life’s source—the upper force, the Creator—and to attain adhesion with this source. The questions about the source and purpose of suffering are part and parcel of the existential questions that bring many of us to this wisdom.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur on December 18, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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